Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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Sung by Cynthia McQuillin and Dominic Bridwell. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_free_fall_and_other_delights
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Lyrics:

We just got in from Alan's World—Lord, what a long dry haul!
I hit dirt looking for company and Terran alcohol
So I strolled into the spaceport bar, where the crowd was going strong
Then I saw him there, so quiet and still, at a table all alone

I wandered over and politely asked, could I sit in the empty chair?
He nodded as he set his glass down among the empties there
He didn't say a word as the party grew till it reached a dozen or more
He just sat there, staring out into space, as if looking through a door

Then, to my surprise, he began to speak, as if talking to a freind
I could hear the pain in his quiet voice; I longed to make it end
I forgot about my drink, my plans, everybody at the bar
As he told me of the love he'd lost beneath the Golden Star

"We put into a world so sweet, it had no port at all
It was wild and clean and beautiful, while it held us in its thrall
And there I met sweet Janicelle, like no one I'd ever known
She had grace and trust and honesty, and I was so alone.

"She was everything that a man could want, all golden hair and skin
More than maid and lover, my heart and soul, but most of all my friend.
From the very first day and hour we met, our hearts and minds were one
Our paradise lasted one brief year, beneath the Golden Sun.

"Then a pirate raider found our home and she fell to a laser knife
I killed the one who struck her down, though it nearly cost my life
Then I left that world, trying to forget, but no matter how hard I try,
I'll hear her voice and feel her touch until the day I die."

I wondered about that distant world, but he didn't hear me ask
His eyes were dark and shuttered as he held his empty glass
And I knew he was back there again, when that world was bright and new,
Remembering what life was like when love was sweet and true.